


Zoo Day

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 13:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21850030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Jack has bad allergies on the day the band goes to a zoo on an off day.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Zoo Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request!

“Guys, can you hurry up? I want to see all of the animals!” Alex exclaimed as his band slowly made their way out to the front lounge of the tour bus.  
“Alex, calm down. We have literally all day for this, and it’s not like the animals are going anywhere,” Zack said with a laugh.  
“I know, but I’ve been so excited for this day for, like, forever. Think about it, when was the last time that I was this excited for an off day?” Alex asked back.  
“I guess that’s true. I’ve been excited for this, too. I haven’t been to a zoo in years.” Rian replied.  
“Same here, actually. Hey, where’s Jack?” Zack asked his friends.  
“Right here,” Jack replied in a nasally, raspy voice. He walked into the front lounge, and immediately saw the looks of concern on his bandmates’ faces.  
“You don’t sound very good, Jack,” Rian pointed out.  
“Yeah, are you sick, dude?” Alex asked.  
“No, this is just seasonal allergies. I always get them at this time of year, regardless of if we’re on tour or not,” Jack explained with a sneeze.  
“Yeah, that’s true. Are you sure you still want to come with us then? Just since we’ll be outside all day and near animals and stuff,” Zack asked.  
“I’m absolutely still coming. I’m not letting some minor allergies ruin my day. We should get going,” Jack replied.   
“Okay, just tell us if you start to feel sick, you don’t want to overwork yourself and turn mostly harmless allergies into something worse,” Alex said.  
“I will, don’t worry. I’ll just take some Zyrtec, and I’ll be perfectly fine,” Jack said, quickly taking the medicine.   
“Well, I guess we should go now, if everyone is ready,” Rian said. The four of them walked off of the bus, and across the long parking lot to the front entrance. When they finally got there, they saw a very long line of people waiting to buy a ticket in.  
“Damn, it’s busy here,” Alex stated as they went to the back of the line.  
“Well, I guess this is what we get for coming on a Saturday,” Zack replied.  
“Fair point. Well, this gives us some time to talk about those setlist changes that we were considering,” Rian stated. While they waited, the four of them decided what songs they wanted to swap out in the setlist to make it more cohesive.   
During this conversation, Jack could feel his allergies starting to get worse. He figured that this would happen since they were outside by a lot of trees, but he’d still hoped that the medicine he’d taken earlier would make it better for him than it did.   
After about half an hour, the four of them finally made it to the front of the line. Once they all paid, they took their tickets to get scanned, then they were officially in the zoo.  
“Take a map, it’ll make getting around this place a lot less stressful,” an employee said as she handed Alex a map.  
“Thanks so much!” Alex replied before walking over to his friends.  
“Okay, we have a map of the zoo, where should we go first? I want to see the arctic animals!” Alex exclaimed as he opened up the map.  
“Well, the arctic stuff is on the other side of the zoo, so we’re not starting with it. I think we should-“ Rian started. He was cut off by Jack breaking into a loud, painful sounding coughing fit. Alex handed off the map, then rubbed Jack’s back until he finally regained his breathing again.  
“Are you okay? That didn’t sound too good,” Alex asked.  
“Yeah, just some stupid congestion. I’m okay, don’t worry about me. Let’s figure out where we’re going!” Jack said, trying to change the subject. In all honestly, he did feel pretty bad. Coughing made his throat hurt, but he tried to hide this, and hoped he’d be able to all day.   
After a few more minutes of looking at the map, the four of them decided to go to the South American exhibit first, since it was the closest to the entrance. They saw Jaguars, maned wolves, and flamingos.  
“You know what’s weird?” Zack asked his friends.  
“What?” Rian asked back.  
“If we ever get big enough to be able to tour in South America, we’ll get to see these animals in their actual habitats!” Zack exclaimed.  
“Dude, we’d be in a big, urbanized city. These animals wouldn’t be there,” Alex replied as the three of them gave Zack looks of confusion.   
“Even I knew that, man,” Jack stated with a sneeze.  
“Wow, way to be nice about it,” Zack joked, making everyone laugh. Next, they decided to check out the African exhibit.   
“This is the part that I’m most excited for! Guys, we can ride elephants!” Jack exclaimed.  
“Oh shit, that’s cool! I never knew that was a thing,” Alex replied.  
“I read it on the website when we made these plans, like a month ago. Come on, we can look at all of the other animals after this!” Jack exclaimed, leading his friends to the elephants.   
“Hey boys, did you want to ride the elephants?” the worker asked.  
“We do. Definitely let him be one of the first of us to go, he’s most excited for it,” Alex replied, pointing to Jack.  
“Yeah, I can’t-“ Jack cut himself off with another big coughing fit that made his friends grimace. Alex helped Jack stay standing and rubbed his back until he was okay again.  
“Um, sir, are you sick?” the worker asked.  
“Not really, it’s just allergies,” Jack replied, cringing because the coughing made his sore throat worse.  
“Well, loud noises, like coughing, tend to startle the animals, and it can make them a bit violent. I don’t think today would be a great day for you to ride, I’m really sorry,” the worker explained. Jack felt extremely sad and disappointed, and he realized his face must’ve been mirroring how he was feeling, because all of his bandmates looked at him with sympathetic expressions.  
“Sorry, Jack. We can always do this next time we come through here,” Alex said, trying to cheer his friend up.  
“We can all skip this today, too,” Rian offered.  
“No, you guys should still do it. I’ll just go wait over there on that bench,” Jack replied.  
“Are you sure man?” Zack asked his friend.  
“Yeah, you guys go have fun,” Jack replied with a fake smile. He walked over to the bench before his friends could say anything else to him. As Jack watched his friends start their rides, he realized how terrible he was really feeling. Everything that he’d felt when he first woke up had intensified, and he noticed that he felt achy and chilly now, too.   
He knew that Alex always felt flu-like when he had allergies, and Jack figured that the same was now happening to him. He put his hand to his forehead, and he couldn’t feel a temperature, but it made him realize the pounding headache that he’d developed throughout the day.   
Feeling frustrated, Jack put his head into his hands, and he stayed this way until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Jack lifted his head up, and saw his bandmates all standing around him, looking concerned.  
“Jack, are you okay?” Alex asked.  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jack tried. To make what he said even less believable, he started to cough again, and had a pained look on his face form it, since it hurt his already raw throat.   
“Do you want to go back to the bus?” Rian offered.  
“We’ve only been here for, like, an hour. I don’t want to make you guys end your day super early. Besides, we haven’t even gotten to the arctic exhibit for Alex yet,” Jack stated.  
“Jack, that’s not a big deal. We can come back here next time we’re in this city, and I can see that exhibit, and you can ride the elephant. Right now, your health matters most. We’re on tour, so it would be really stupid for you to try to push yourself too far just so I can see some penguins,” Alex explained.  
“Well, I do feel pretty terrible. I feel like I have the flu,” Jack replied.  
“Flu-like allergies are the worst, because it’ll turn into the flu if you’re not careful. That happened to me a couple tours ago, remember? I thought I’d be fine, and we didn’t cancel anything, but I got the flu because of it,” Alex explained.  
“That’s a good point. I guess I should call it a day. I’m really sorry, you guys,” Jack replied.   
“It’s okay, man. we can just have a nice, relaxing day off so we can have a kick ass show tomorrow night!” Zack said, making Jack smile some. With that, the four of them walked back to the entrance, then back across the parking lot to their bus.  
“Go change into something comfier, and we can watch a movie in the back!” Alex suggested.  
“What movie?” Jack asked.  
“That’s a surprise, just change and we’ll get everything you’ll need,” Rian replied. Jack went to the bunks and put his PJs back on. After grabbing his blanket and pillow, he went to the back and got comfortable on the couch.   
“We made you tea and got you some cough drops,” Rian said as Zack handed him everything.  
“And I found the perfect movie for us!” Alex replied, putting a DVD into the player. As Rian, Zack and Alex got comfortable around Jack, the menu screen for the first Madagascar movie appeared on the screen.  
“What made you pick this?” Jack asked with a sneeze.  
“It’s about zoo animals, duh!” Alex replied, making everyone laugh some. Alex pressed play as Jack began to sip at his tea. Jack spent the rest of the day in the back with his friends taking turns of taking care of him. Alex spent the most time with him, since he’d had the same thing and knew just how shitty Jack was feeling.   
Taking a rest day paid off when Jack woke up the next morning feeing significantly better. Their show went great, and Jack had a great time, and he was grateful that his band had helped him so much the day before.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is a request for CNF! I have another request ready to go for tomorrow, then I won't be posting again until Saturday (unless you want a story super early Friday morning, which is in the realm of possibilities, tbh). Since I have a five hour car ride to Chicago for the NP show I'm going to, please send me requests that I can write on the way if you have them!! I hope you all liked this story, and thanks for reading my work, it really does mean a lot. Lots of love, Liv.


End file.
